Ibsen’s fairy tale comedy was first performed in Bergen in 1853 when Ibsen was 23. It had a bad reception; the audience hissed and whistled. In his old age he refused to allow it to be published in his collected works, saying: “The play is a miserable thing which is not really by my hand. It is founded on a rough mess of a draft which I was given by a student acquaintance, re-worked and put my name to, but which I cannot now possibly acknowledge as being mine.”
Theatregoers will be reminded of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream when they see a goblin putting a magic potion into a bowl of punch, which plays havoc with the love lives of four young people. Birk, who was going to announce his engagement to Julianne, finds that he really loves the innocent and childlike Anne, who believes in a supernatural world. Julianne, meanwhile, finds she really loves Poulsen, a would-be poet, who is torn between nationalism and aesthetics and even more pretentious than she is. The contrast between the two couples is amusingly made when they are confronted with a magic spectacle.
Ibsen’s satire on romantic nationalist drama, folklore and rural life is a curiosity, a collector’s item. Anthony Bigg’s charming miniature production is the play’s UK premiere. Ed Birch is particularly effective as Birk and Louise Calf is sweet as Anne. Danny Lee Wynter is a bit too muted for a poseur such as Poulsen.